52 Weeks of Me - Leading Lines (31/52)

>> Sunday, July 31, 2011

Here my friends is my leading lines shot. Perhaps could have been done better but it is summer and we are all enjoying it so our time doing selfies is much less than in say winter when we are looking for outlets of our energy.

31/52


I will also include my 24/32 Framing You in this weeks post. It is copied inspired from this shot.

24/52

Add your selfie to our flickr pool so we can all check them out in 1 place. Next week is Negative Space.


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Just a little vent about school

>> Saturday, July 30, 2011

Maybe I will get it all out before school starts this year so you won't hear me complain at all once August 25th comes. Doubt it but you can hope. So my complaint today is school supplies. I realize that all schools are broke because of budget cuts but I feel that our school is sort of making the parents make up the difference. Do you remember crayons? I do but my rising 1st grader wasn't asked to bring in a .25 box of crayons but rather 2 boxes of twistable crayons. Those bad boys are $5 a box. Why do they need those? Our school supplies cost us over $60 this year and that is not including a backpack. 20 glues sticks. That is a lot of glueing and that is PER student! Then once school starts the teachers have a "wish list". Don't even get me started on the absurd things they include on their "wish lists". Here is the loot. After school started last year the teacher asked for money for snacks and also another $20 for specific things she wanted to put together that wasn't on the list.

school supplies


The $15 worth of twistable crayons and pencils put me over the top. What are on your supply lists? You know just so I can stew about this some more :)

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Wordful Wednesday - Our 6 year old

>> Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Piper turned 6 about a few weeks ago but I have been busy and haven't officially wished her a Happy Birthday on my blog. So Happy Birthday to my sweet blue eyed girl. Where has the time gone? It happened too quickly. Much too quickly.

6.26.11


Summer is racing by. I can't believe that it is almost August. School starts in less than a month. I am not ready! So not ready. I wonder if I will ever be ready for school to start back up. Are you?

Live and Love...Out Loud

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Monday Mingle 7.25.11

>> Monday, July 25, 2011

Late mingling this week. Busy week with family here. So.much.fun with the cousins (and my sister in law). This weeks questions are:

1. Do you like to swim? Are you kids good swimmers?
2. Are you going to any beaches this summer?
3. What is something you purchased/received recently that you are most excited about?


Link up with Eighty MPH Mom and her Monday Mingles!

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52 Weeks of Me - I love... (30/52)

>> Sunday, July 24, 2011

It has been a busy week. Family, parties, and a ton of fun. Honestly I only put 5 minutes into this weeks selfie but that is more than last week which still isn't done.

30/52

Add your selfie to our flickr pool so we can all check them out in 1 place. Next week is Leading lines.



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Stone Mountain State Park (2011)

>> Thursday, July 21, 2011

Back before the girls we used to go to Stone Mountain State Park and hike. We had hiked to the waterfall and 1 time with Piper on my back we went up the mountain and then back down again but never the full loop. Friday when we saw that the weather was going to be very mild my brother in law, sister in law, and I decided to head there with the girls to check out the water fall.
We parked on the upper part of the park so it was a quick little hike to the top of the water fall.

ready to go! (1 of 1)
group (1 of 1)

We made our way down the stairs to see the falls from all the viewing areas.
large falls (1 of 1)
small falls (1 of 1)

It was very fun walking with all the kids and exploring nature. We saw the old homestead that they have at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain itself is pretty cool from this angle.
kids mountain (1 of 1)

The trail that we were following was a 4.5 mile loop. It said strenuous but a 4, 5, 6, & 7 year old can handle it right? We finished up the lower part of the loop and took a bar/water break before finishing up the last half of the hike.
before mountain (1 of 1)

What are we doing? That sign says Injury or Death Possible! It does say that but from doing both hikes before I knew we would all just be tired. Unless we were mauled by a bear we would make it :)
before mountain sign (1 of 1)

Straight up the mountain we went. Stair after stair after stair. Addi and Piper leading the way.
stairs2 (1 of 1)

Ruby was on my back. Violet and Chloe were doing their very best behind me. Up, up, up. Who knew that 1/4 mile could take this long? Climb, climb, climb. Are we there yet? We laughed that there should be an escalator. Why not?
stairs (1 of 1)

Still more steps. They were seriously never ending! We climbed 330 stairs. Our legs were all burning. I think it took us almost an hour to complete the hike straight to the top but when we got up there it was so worth the work. I took a ton of pictures at this point because we worked hard to get here.
girl's elevation (1 of 1)
my family (1 of 1)
sam's family (1 of 1)
violet-chloe (1 of 1)addi-piper (1 of 1)
all girls mountain (1 of 1)

I remember one of the only signs saying we still had 1.7 miles to go to complete our loop and I just said a silent prayer in my head that it would all be flat :) Violet is quite an eagle eye and noticed this on the trail. What a neat butterfly.
butterfly (1 of 1)

I happened to look behind me and saw my oldest limping. It seems that her shoes were giving her major blisters and she could barely walk. What is a mama to do? Take Ruby out of the sling.
sam walking with girls (1 of 1)

and put Piper in it :)
piper on my back (1 of 1)

We did it though! Smiles on their faces still afterwards! Gotta love the littles!
done!! (1 of 1)

My van has never been such a welcome sight. 4.5 miles took us about 4 hours to do. We took our time and enjoyed the scenery. The girls did fabulously! I wonder if our Ohio family will want to make this a yearly outing :)

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52 Weeks of Me - Shallow Depth of Field (29/52)

>> Sunday, July 17, 2011

I will get mine up later today :) Again, late :)

Add your selfie to our flickr pool so we can all check them out in 1 place. Next week is I love....


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Wordful Wednesday - Not just any s'mores...

>> Tuesday, July 12, 2011

have you tried Reese Cup s'more's? Perhaps you have used a different candy bar? When did this happen? I figured that I was on the cutting edge of candy bar recipes and then this past March I heard of something new. It intrigued me but I still put it in the back of my head. You know that recipe box that we all have the "I will remember to try that" one? It is almost the same place as the "I can make that so I am not going to buy it" because we all know how that ends up right? So from March until July I had completely forgotten about the Reese Cup s'mores until the night we were out of Hershey bars. Seriously, Reese Cups are my favorite candy bar so how did I forget about it? We decided to try them out and OMGosh delish! Rich, creamy, peanut buttery goodness. How could I have forgotten? We even used those super giant marshmallows. Why not add an additional 300 calories per s'more right?

s'mores


and now we get asked for them every night for "bessert"

s'mores piper
s'mores violet

Live and Love...Out Loud

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A Bittersweet Day

Most breastfeeding mamas come to a point (I think) where they want their body back and maybe to sleep through the night once in awhile. Maybe I am in the minority but I doubt it. It isn't that I think that I have been nursing Ruby for SO long or anything because I know many who nurse much longer. My oldest will turn 6 this week and I have been either pregnant, nursing, or pregnant AND nursing for almost 7 years. If Ruby only still casually wanted to breastfeed I would continue in a heartbeat but this child wants it all.the.time! During the day she was grabbing at my shirt constantly so we weaned that a few weeks ago. I enjoyed nursing her before bed but she continued to wake up multiple times during the night as well. Last week when we returned from Florida I decided it was time and when my husband left for his business trip I did it. If you have ever had to do this before it is absolutely heartbreaking. The first night Ruby begged and cried. I cried as well and just held her and attempted to calm her down. This went on throughout the night. 4 times that first night to be exact. The second night was better and she only woke up 3 times. She didn't cry like the night before either. I calmed her down while rubbing her back until she fell back to sleep. Each night since it has gotten a little bit easier but she still wakes up 2 or 3 times and I am still calming her back to sleep. Perhaps this milestone has affected me so deeply because it is the end of my babies being babies. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love the beautiful girls that Piper and Violet are becoming but my Ruby will likely be my last baby and it is hard for me sometimes to come to terms with that. This is by far my favorite shot of nursing our Ruby and might be one of the very first selfie shots that I ever did (taken 7/2010). I adore everything about it.

breastfeeding Ruby

Sweet Shot Day

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Monday Mingle 7.11.11

>> Monday, July 11, 2011

Happy Monday! It is going to be a great week! My oldest turns 6 and she can't wait! We love birthdays here and celebrate them big. She is still deciding on the Mexican restaurant or Red Robin for her birthday dinner. What big decisions she has right?
This week's questions are:
1. What is your biggest distraction when you drive?
2. Where do you go when you want some peace and quiet to hear yourself think?
3. What did you do for the 4th of July?


Link up with Eighty MPH Mom and her Monday Mingles!

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52 Weeks of Me - Faceless Portrait (28/52)

>> Sunday, July 10, 2011

Good Sunday Morning! I sort of knew ahead of time what I wanted to try and accomplish with my selfie this week. For the most part it worked out in my head the way I thought it would until I got to processing it. I loved the moody b/w white processing and I even tried light and bright but kept going back to this one. This mama is far from moody these days though. Check out the gorgeousness that I am sporting. A few weeks ago I won a giveaway at Seven Clown Circus and I am now the excited owner of the Tassel Silver earrings and Hardware necklace from Twisted Silver. I smile whenever I think of them. Hopefully hubs and I will have a date night soon so that I can wear my new necklace. The earrings, as you can see, have already seen some love.

28/52

Add your selfie to our flickr pool so we can all check them out in 1 place. Next week is Shallow DOF.



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Hey Tooth Fairy!

>> Saturday, July 9, 2011

I thought we might have to write her a letter asking what was up but lucky us we didn't. Just 2 weeks before Piper turned 6 she lost her first tooth. Can we get a whoop whoop! Who knows when it started getting loose because she came to me when it was pretty darned loose down in Florida. Less than 4 hours later it was out of her mouth. Determined girl.

6.8.11

Guess what? The one next to it is slightly loose now too. Hey Tooth Fairy!

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Wordful Wednesday - Worldwind Tour of the Southeast 2011

>> Wednesday, July 6, 2011

We're back and trying to get back in the swing of life. Our trip to Daytona was filled with fun and sun. Matt was able to hang out on Saturday and we decided to use some hotel points and stay at the same hotel an extra night because it was so great for the littles. We ended up taking a ride to see the shuttle late Saturday morning. Well Matt and I had a bit of a miscommunication and we ended up standing in line at the Kennedy Space Center museum. I just wanted to see the shuttle but we waited. An hour. In the hot sun. Finally Ruby was done, Piper had to go to the bathroom, and Violet whined that she didn't want to stand anymore. I told Matt that I didn't want to stay there because it wouldn't be a good afternoon with them being that way before we even got in. I know it made him mad but because I had not explained myself well enough he was rightfully frustrated with me. How about admitting that publicly. It was very quiet the first part of our ride home until we talked and I apologized. Ah well, we will see it on tv Friday right? Back at the hotel we played and played. Violet was afraid of getting bit by a shark so she held my hand in the ocean with her death grip. Saturday night we ate at Bubba Gump's. I had never been and it was fun! Forrest Gump is quite possibly my all time favorite movie. Although I can recite most of the movie to you I wasn't very good at the trivia.

bubba gump

Afterwards we walked on the beach where we saw fabulous street performers and rode the ferris wheel. It was Violet and Ruby's first time but it was mama who was the nervous one :) No shots from up top because I was holding onto my baby tightly.
magician flame guy

On the way back to our parking spot I saw this lady. Love her! So I told Matt that I wanted to grab my camera and take her picture. I walked over to where the parking guys were and chatted with them for a moment too. They were hilarious! They had a fake wallet on a string and were screwing with SO many people! It was great to watch! I tried to get Matt to fall for it but it was late when we walked back and they already had it put away. Yep, I am that wife who would do that to her husband :)
7.2.11 woman Daytona

Walking on the beach we noticed that there were a bunch of (what looked like) jelly fish all over the place. They were called moon jellyfish and ended up stinging around 700 people Saturday and 1300 on Sunday. Now why didn't I take a picture of that? Violet finally agreed to let me take some of her that is why and there is only a small window of opportunity with a 4 year old :)
7.2.11

Sunday we got up and asked for a late checkout. We hit the pool all morning and then reluctantly went back to the room for lunch and to get the van packed. When I am having a great time with my family I could stay there forever. This was one of those times. I got the bright idea that we would still be in Savannah close to supper and why not visit a restaurant there instead of one on the side of the road. Yes, my husband should receive sainthood to be married to me. Lady & Sons was not serving their buffet anymore so I chose Moon River Brewery. They make yummy beer. It's also haunted. Hubs isn't into that but I thought it was pretty cool. In honor of haunted Savannah I downloaded some free Ghost Story Actions and had to process at least 1 shot with it :) This was called Adrenaline.
charleston

We walked (with our stroller) on the rocky streets and visited the outdoor market that was still going strong.
charleston charleston3

Then we all piled in the van for the last half of our ride. There it is. Busy, fun, hot, pools, sand, jellyfish, ghosts, family, love!
Live and Love...Out Loud

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I am 45 years old and married to my best friend Matthew. We are the parents of 3 girls, 2 dogs, and a cat. This is the story of us, try to stay awake.
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